Re: Language on Barrayar (was:Re: Tiptoeing through a minefield: Ayn Rand=


Nancy Lebovitz wrote:
In article <oZ13g.51483$_S7.17614@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Mike Schilling <mscottschilling@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

And who, in fact, didn't belong anywhere. As Jews have become full citizens
of the countries they reside in, Yiddish has died as a spoken language. I
had great-aunts and -uncles who spoke it exclusively (here in the US), my
parents could speak it to keep secrets from the kids, I know a few phrases,

That's my parents, too, and I've heard of other cases. I'm not sure that
a language from a culture where that's the default deserves to survive.

Though it's a shame--it seems like a cool language, and while I would
like to have learned it as a child, there's no reason to think I'll
get around to it as an adult.

and I'm not sure my kids even know how to call somebody a schmuck.

My dad's parents came over from Germany in '37. I've never heard him
speak it in the house, except for conversing with his mother and
father, and as for _his_ kids, well, I can read it, slowly, and
understand a little if spoken to slowly. And my daughter wants to be
fluent in French :-)

.

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